Silence in the Backseat
by Muse-ical
Summary: Laura Kinney is Wolverine's clone, left on her own for the first time to be allowed to live her life. But with the knowledge that she has killed, she is unsure of her role in society. Set in between Target X and Childhood's End.
1. Prologue

**Silence in the Backseat**

**Prologue**

The bus was filled with passengers, families and couples alike, all crammed into their seats with their luggage overhead. Laura was alone, seated near a window in the back, with a small backpack and a letter in her hand. Her right hand brushed fingertips along the words written in pen, the clean copy of the letter Sara wrote. Laura's eyes teared up for a moment as she read it for the first time, the emotional roller coaster of the interrogation surprising her with the amount of compassion she still held despite being raised a weapon.

Her head leaned against the window as she watched the bus station pass from her view, and the highway that was lined with power poles and dirt shoulders faded into a huge metrosystem that was linked with bridges, tall buildings and the occasional coffee house chain. She stayed awake the whole time, eyes open and taking in the view of places she was told to avoid. Captain America had released her, but to what? Holding tight to the letter, she finally folded the parchment and placed it into the backpack along with funds and one more change of clothes. Her aliases were inside as well, for when she needed to work for money, when the funds were gone. Everything seemed set.

But she had no idea where to go, or even what she would do when she got there. Would she attend school, like Megan had? Would there be suspicion when she had no parents to attend meetings? All Laura had learned was how to kill, and how to blend in, to disappear from view and be forgotten even though one had stared straight at her face. What she had wanted she could not have, not with Kimura after her. The bloodthirsty handler proved to her that no one could be safe near her, she could not protect them against someone she could never harm.

When the passengers all exited at their destination, Laura followed, but stopped for a moment at the platform. She stared at the buses and the roads, then moved along and disappeared into the crowd.


	2. Some Advice

When she stepped off the bus, bag in hand, water droplets mixed with dry streaks on her cheeks, falling into her hair and soaking into her jacket. The letter was in her hand, and words she had memorized blended and melted into each other. Walking onto the curb into the mass of people with umbrellas hurrying home to families, Laura grasped the soaked paper and balled it before letting it fall into a gutter. She walked down the street aimlessly for awhile and stared at the tall buildings to gather what should could about the new city she was in.

All she could contemplate was how different things were. In all likelihood she had been to New York before, but the memories of corpses she had left behind were pushed back in her mind for now. This place, this city was looked upon with new eyes, a fresh vision of somewhere to hide from the company that coveted her abilities. Laura couldn't pinpoint the feeling that kept her walking, kept her distanced from contact with anyone yet left a lingering scent of camaraderie with the other citizens that made their journeys along the same roads. When the sun finally set and the rain slowed to a light trickle, she ducked from the pressing reality into an alleyway and tugged up her jacket sleeves to make marks upon her skin. Familiarity rushed from her veins for a couple of brief moments before her healing effect took hold, and with shallow breaths she sunk down onto the damp concrete and closed her eyes.

Time passed slowly, and her eyes opened once more to the darkened nightlife of New York. The people out now where a slimy population; one could almost taste the greed in the air. Laura could hear a man across the street with his constant "psst"s towards passers by, and a woman near the corner of the alley she hid in whispering about her last trick. Her eyes flickered towards a brightly lit sign. The word "Vacancy" blinked on and off and she lifted herself from the ground. Ignoring the light gasp from the prostitute as Laura walked from the shadows, she crossed the street and gingerly grasped the handle on the door to the hotel.

"What's a kid like you doing here at this time o' the night? Don't'cha know there's about a million and one reasons you could be dead in a ditch in this neighborhood?"

The middle-aged man stared disapprovingly at her as she sifted through her bag, pulling out a handful of cash rolled together with a rubber band. When he saw the cash, Laura noticed his hand began to fiddle with the fake gold chain that hung around his neck, just above where his open collared shirt revealed a tuft of dark hair. Her eyes met his and she could read his expression like an open book; he was intrigued.

"I need a room for the night," she said quietly.

"Sure thing, kid, would you like one with a safe? It'll cost fifty extra."

"That won't be necessary. Just one room. One night."

He pulled a book from under the counter and opened it to reveal the registry, "Sign your name right here.

"It's $75 for one night, and we ain't responsible for any stolen items. You sure you don't want a safe?"

"I'm sure," Laura handed him a hundred dollar bill, "Keep the change."

He stared at the bill for a moment before retrieving the key for the room, biting his lip before handing it over to Laura's outstretched hand.

"I won't lie, I'm surprised a girl like you is holding all that money without having to have done some bad things for it. You're real pretty, y'know? And you look like you have a good head on your shoulders. I'd hate to see you turn into one of those... ach, you know what? It's none of my business, but my advice for tonight? Get in your room and stay there. You don't want nobody using you."

"Thank you, I will."

The inside of her room was sparse. There was a bed against the wall to her left, and there was no bathroom, just a sink and a mirror. Laura placed her bag onto her bed and unzipped the top. She sifted through a couple of her outfits, things she had borrowed from Megan. A particular corset caught her eye, magenta with gold embroidery. Letting her finger trace the design, she stretched onto the blanket and rested her arm on her head. The designs on the corset, her cousin's face when she confessed to staying behind. _It's only family, _she thought to herself, _I've survived without one before. _

Inside that thought only made her stomach churn, and she lifted herself to go to the sink, to rinse the grime off of her face when she had slept in the alley. The faucet wouldn't spout cold water, her hands and face turned red from the scalding liquid. She stared in the mirror, at the green eyes that looked like her mother's. Sucking in a deep breath, her fingers clenched onto the knob of the faucet and in a second it snapped off under her grip. She slammed her right fist into the mirror and the pieces rained into the sink. Bits of the shards stuck to her fingers and she pulled herself away from the hundreds of green eyes staring at her. The healing power pushed the glass out of her knuckles and left a trail to the bed.

_I have no family_, she forced herself to believe it, _I only have a mission._

_But what is it?_


	3. Pinocchio

The waves kept coming closer to her bare feet as she stared towards the horizon, breathing in the salty air and listening to the soft sounds of the ocean. Laura thought she could see something far off in the distance leaping from the water. Then, almost invisible to the naked eye, a blue light floated above the waves towards her. She held her breath as a shape manifested from the light, a tiny figure of a woman. The blue fairy from tales of Pinocchio, the ones her mother had read to her at the Facility.

"I know you," Laura whispered to the fairy.

Hearing nothing in response, Laura returned her gaze to the water, and a strange force compelled to her to walk into the rolling waters. She knew it had to be freezing, but she didn't feel it, and soon she was waist deep in the waves. Her clothing soaked up more water and weighed her down as she continued further into its depths. When she could walk to longer, she swam, heading towards the figure she had seen leaping from the ocean. Laura couldn't tell how far from the shore she was. She turned onto her back and floated in the calm pull of the current, closing her eyes as she listened to her breathing. The time passed and a peaceful feeling swept over Laura.

No pain, no death, just the waves of the ocean and the clear blue sky. And the absence of any thought calmed her more. She felt she could float there forever. She drifted and let herself fall asleep.

She awoke to the smell of rancid fish and warm air. There was no blue sky, and the water was replaced with a sticky, hot and fleshy surface all around her. She lifted herself from the soft tissue and stared into the cavernous expanse she was trapped in. The smell alone caused her stomach to turn, but something different altogether made her breath catch in her throat. In the story of Pinocchio, the puppet was once swallowed by a giant whale, and was reunited with his father Geppetto.

Her eyes scanned the Whale's gigantic stomach, hoping to find her mother's crouching figure hidden in the depths of the monstrous flesh-lined cave. Laura tried to listen for the familiar sound of her mother's voice, believing she had to be in there somewhere. It was in the book, wasn't it? They would escape together and the Blue Fairy would grant Laura's wish to be human. All her searching would be over, and no one would know who she had been, no one would try to kill her or the people she loved.

Laura began to run through her prison, her feet sinking into the whale's flesh. She didn't know how far she had run, but as she made her way further into the belly of the monster, she thought she could see a figure crouching in one of the shadows.

"Mother!" she tried to cry.

It was all gone in a flash as Laura woke up sprawled on the hotel bed. One of her hand claws had embedded into the mattress, though the haze of sleep had caused her to jerk suddenly, and the sharp blades sliced through the middle. She leaned forward to bring her head between her knees and regained her composure. This was something entirely new and different to her upbringing, and the wave upon wave of emotions she was experiencing felt crippling.

She stared out the window into the darkness of the city, and lifted herself from the bed. More than anything she wanted it all to go away. Laura pressed her blades onto her wrist and started to drag them across slowly, coping the only way she knew how. And every wound on her skin pushed back the emotions; one by one she allowed one feeling to surpass the others. She let the pain wash over her senses as she sat crumpled against a wall. Not even a scar was present once she picked herself up again.

Her senses her own again, she could tell there was something off about the silence in the hallway of the hotel. As her footsteps echoed on the wooden floors, she heard the voices in the lobby and picked up the stench of three men aside from the Hotel Manager. Something inside her told her to leave it alone. The man had told her to stay in the room, hadn't he? He must have known what he was saying. Still, she moved through the hallway and the voices became clearer. She would listen in, she decided, just in case.

"This is good, real good 'mitri, after those last couple weeks I was getting worried."

"Business has its ups and downs, today made this week turn around."

"Good for you, good for you. It's a shame though, I have to say…."

"What is?"

"That the boss thinks you're holding out on us. Says you have the smell of a greedy rat bastard. And, as I'm sure you're aware, he hates people like that."

"Come on, Franco, you know me better than that, I would never, there's no way… I know what he's capable of."

"I believe you, I do; he doesn't. I'm told we're going to make a trip here tomorrow and he's expecting at least 5 c-notes."

"I can't make that in a day!"

"He thinks you can, and I'm willing to agree. So tomorrow, same time, we get the money. If not, I really liked you, man."

She could hear the footsteps and the sound of the door opening as the three men left, and when she came closer she heard the Hotel Manager's heart racing. He leaned on the counter and held his face in his hands, mumbling.

"How am I gonna… how am I… oh god, I'm a dead man."

Laura stood in front of him; the man was too distraught to notice her. He just kept mumbling the same thing over and over.

"There's another way," she said to the man calmly.


End file.
